Ephemera

New Ethic make t-shirts—they are ac­cred­ited by FairWear, ad­ver­tise in the Big Issue, and ap­par­ently con­sider them­selves fine, ethical cor­po­rate citizens. These freebie stick­ers are dis­trib­uted to re­tail­ers that stock their clothes. Compare and contrast: the peel-off back (“BESIDES, IT PROB­A­BLY WOULDN’T HURT TO GIVE YOUR­SELF SOME MINDSPACE, FREE FROM COM­MER­CIAL PROPAGANDA.”) with the front, where the “New Ethic” logo appears in large type.

In full, the text reads:

PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS STICKER AS STREET GRAFFITI
THE PURPOSE OF THIS STICKER IS TO REDUCE WASTE, NOT TO CREATE IT.
STICK IT ON YOUR LET­TER­BOX TO DETER JUNK MAIL DELIVERIES.
IF ENOUGH PEOPLE REFUSE TO ACCEPT AD­VER­TIS­ING MATERIAL, THEN MAYBE WE CAN SAVE A FOREST OR TWO.
BESIDES, IT PROB­A­BLY WOULDN’T HURT TO GIVE YOUR­SELF SOME MINDSPACE, FREE FROM COM­MER­CIAL PROPAGANDA.

THIS STICKER IS MADE FROM RE­CY­CLABLE POLYESTER.
WHEN IT REACHES THE END OF ITS USEFUL LIFE (USUALLY ABOUT TWO YEARS), JUST THROW IT IN YOUR RE­CY­CLING BIN.